Funkcreep said:

The only songs I know by R.E.M. are:

Religion

Drive

Man on the Moon

End of the World

Everbody Hurts

etc....

Just the hits as you can see. What tracks do I need to hear? I've always like R.E.M. just never took the time to look deeper.

I would recommend And I Feel Fine...The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987:

[img:$uid]http://images.bizrate.com/resize?sq=450&uid=602135389[/img:$uid]

and In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003:

[img:$uid]http://images.bizrate.com/resize?sq=450&uid=11181960[/img:$uid]

That should give you a good introduction to (nearly) their entire career. After that if you want to hear more you can start diving into the individual albums.

rialb said:

elmer said:

Duran Duran haven't been relevent since the '80s, they've been doing the rounds on daytime tv for the last decade or more trying to flog their wares to old housewives who had a thing for them back when. Nowadays LeBon's just a hungry fat fish flailing about on a riverbank. *cheap shot*

Well, they did have a couple of top ten hits in 1993 ("Ordinary World" and "Come Undone").

Still hear Ordinary World about so often I forgot it's from the '90s. Suppose in many ways Prince is as much of a nostalgia act, as were REM.

elmer said:

rialb said:

Well, they did have a couple of top ten hits in 1993 ("Ordinary World" and "Come Undone").

Still hear Ordinary World about so often I forgot it's from the '90s. Suppose in many ways Prince is as much of a nostalgia act, as were REM.

Prince is arguably more of a nostalgia act, at least if you consider his setlists. Since the Musicology tour he has pretty much been playing greatest hits shows with some covers and the odd new/obscure song sprinkled in.

When I heard this news earlier today I was thinking to myself....

I thought they broke up years ago...

rialb said:

elmer said:

Still hear Ordinary World about so often I forgot it's from the '90s. Suppose in many ways Prince is as much of a nostalgia act, as were REM.

Prince is arguably more of a nostalgia act, at least if you consider his setlists. Since the Musicology tour he has pretty much been playing greatest hits shows with some covers and the odd new/obscure song sprinkled in.

To me REM is not a nostalgia act by any means, mainly because if you look at their last tours take a look at the set lists, they contain at least half if not more of their current albums, thats not nostalgia by any means. PRINCE has become nostalgia, for a guy who never wanted it to be about that, thats all he is now. I mean when he had EMANCIPATION his pet project, he toured on that album and though it had 36 songs on it, the most he ever played was 4 and that was rare, later in the tour that was down to 3 and 2. And since then all his tours with the exception of HIS BEST tourm which was ONE NITE ALONE, its all been about the past. Prince has become a nostalgic act, kind of like Chicago and The Rolling Stones etc..

I've enjoyed something on all their albums. This was the last truly great R.E.M. song IMO, so infectious and catchy:

lastdecember said:

rialb said:

Prince is arguably more of a nostalgia act, at least if you consider his setlists. Since the Musicology tour he has pretty much been playing greatest hits shows with some covers and the odd new/obscure song sprinkled in.

To me REM is not a nostalgia act by any means, mainly because if you look at their last tours take a look at the set lists, they contain at least half if not more of their current albums, thats not nostalgia by any means. PRINCE has become nostalgia, for a guy who never wanted it to be about that, thats all he is now. I mean when he had EMANCIPATION his pet project, he toured on that album and though it had 36 songs on it, the most he ever played was 4 and that was rare, later in the tour that was down to 3 and 2. And since then all his tours with the exception of HIS BEST tourm which was ONE NITE ALONE, its all been about the past. Prince has become a nostalgic act, kind of like Chicago and The Rolling Stones etc..

Oi, let us not talk about the Emancipation tour. Those songs had so much potential to sound great live! It makes me sad to think about what could have been.

jeez, for a minute there I thought it was ginsberg on the creatorsproject clip

stipe has grown old all of a sudden. he used to be so cute. in a weird way he still

is tho. but perhaps that's because he talks like he's a bit insane and probably also

a bit of an asshole. i'm attracted to that. or so my track record tells me.

their last two albums were pretty good. i agree tho that they didn't really have

anything new to tell for years now. but there are still amazing songs on their

late albums.

kind of hoping that stipe will record a solo album in the future, once he's done

with his plastic garden chair molds.

IstenSzek said:

jeez, for a minute there I thought it was ginsberg on the creatorsproject clip

stipe has grown old all of a sudden. he used to be so cute. in a weird way he still

is tho. but perhaps that's because he talks like he's a bit insane and probably also

a bit of an asshole. i'm attracted to that. or so my track record tells me.

their last two albums were pretty good. i agree tho that they didn't really have

anything new to tell for years now. but there are still amazing songs on their

late albums.

kind of hoping that stipe will record a solo album in the future, once he's done

with his plastic garden chair molds.

Michael used to be HANDSOME back in the day! Especially around the late 1980s just before he cut his hair again and when his hair was long. Now... he looks like one of those creepy old guys at gay bars.

Well now that R.E.M is done, Stipe now feels he's free to post pics of his wang online.

lazycrockett said:

Well now that R.E.M is done, Stipe now feels he's free to post pics of his wang online.

Like he did a couple years ago.

I know it's all subjective, but I think R.E.M are the greatest American band.

An amazing run of albums, Life's Rich Pagaent, Murmur, Document, Green, Out Of Time etc..

Right up to my favourite, New AdventuresIn Hi Fi.

A great band that will stand the test of time.

REM is one of my favourite bands ever. But i think it is a wise decision they have called it quits.

Since Bill Berry has left they have come up with some great songs from time to time, but not many really great albums anymore. That is not only the result of one of the original band-members (and co-songwriters) leaving but IMO also has a lot to do with:

- The increasing time between subsuequent albums they released since 1996: the band did became to work more on a sort of 'project' basis, with 3 - 5 years in between of not really operating as a 'band'.

- Peter Buck did seem to find more satisfaction in all of the side-projects he was working on. Always a believer in fast writing- and recording, he became more and more annoyed with the time Micheael Stipe and Mike Mills wanted to take on creating albums.

- Michael Stipe paying more time and attention to his production-work and his photography / fashion interests.

- Mike Mills spending more time on the golf course then in the record studio.

- And as most other artists with long careers they were really no longer on an artistic / creative peak after a while.

In contrary to many other REM-fans i have never been that fond of their last two albums: Accelarate and Collapse into now. I think the songwriting is decent, but not remarkable and the listening experience is spoiled by the worst mixing / mastering i have ever heard. Overcompressed shit that gives me a headache.

Musically and in terms of production i think Around the Sun is the only truelly bad album they have ever released (2 stars out of 5). I never cared a lot either for the forced rock-sound of Monster, but at least that album has like 3 or 4 very strong songs, while Around the Sun only has Leaving New York to save it.

I personally like their first two, more electronically expiremental, albumswithout Berry: Up and Reveal. Up is a bit too long and has a bit too many slow songs, but Reveal is my favourite Post-Berry album and maybe even in my top 5 of favourite REM albums ever. A very underrated summery thing.

So yes, they maybe would have been better off quiting as a band when Berry left, but 14 on 16 albums ranging on a scale from good to masterpiece (the period from Chronic Town unto Automatic for the People showing constant improvement IMO) is still a very impressive result. Something the boys could be very proud off.

One of my favourite performances by them. This live-version outshines the album-version IMO. Great singing by Stipe and a tastefull solo by the self-proclaimed 'guitar solo hater' Buck.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...9_9xii2nqY

What a band!!

Thats all I have to say

Crossing my fingers I'll get that Michael Stipe/Kate Pierson album now.

Some of their lesser known tracks which i love a lot:

Laughing: from their debut album Murmur, great intricate team-playing and a mysterious vibe

http://www.youtube.com/wa...KOesjFT94w

Flowers of guatemala: gently majestic ballad with a simply, very affective guitar solo by Peter Beck.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...jkJZ5N6Jnw

King of birds: live version from 'Tour film'

http://www.youtube.com/wa...9AMohGRtow

Belong: song from out of time. I still don't know what these lyrics are about (suicide? hope?), but in combination with these worldless, heavenly harmonies they always seem to touch me.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...twWaP5_mBs

Riverman37 said:

REM is one of my favourite bands ever. But i think it is a wise decision they have called it quits.

Since Bill Berry has left they have come up with some great songs from time to time, but not many really great albums anymore. That is not only the result of one of the original band-members (and co-songwriters) leaving but IMO also has a lot to do with:

- The increasing time between subsuequent albums they released since 1996: the band did became to work more on a sort of 'project' basis, with 3 - 5 years in between of not really operating as a 'band'.

- Peter Buck did seem to find more satisfaction in all of the side-projects he was working on. Always a believer in fast writing- and recording, he became more and more annoyed with the time Micheael Stipe and Mike Mills wanted to take on creating albums.

- Michael Stipe paying more time and attention to his production-work and his photography / fashion interests.

- Mike Mills spending more time on the golf course then in the record studio.

- And as most other artists with long careers they were really no longer on an artistic / creative peak after a while.

In contrary to many other REM-fans i have never been that fond of their last two albums: Accelarate and Collapse into now. I think the songwriting is decent, but not remarkable and the listening experience is spoiled by the worst mixing / mastering i have ever heard. Overcompressed shit that gives me a headache.

Musically and in terms of production i think Around the Sun is the only truelly bad album they have ever released (2 stars out of 5). I never cared a lot either for the forced rock-sound of Monster, but at least that album has like 3 or 4 very strong songs, while Around the Sun only has Leaving New York to save it.

I personally like their first two, more electronically expiremental, albumswithout Berry: Up and Reveal. Up is a bit too long and has a bit too many slow songs, but Reveal is my favourite Post-Berry album and maybe even in my top 5 of favourite REM albums ever. A very underrated summery thing.

So yes, they maybe would have been better off quiting as a band when Berry left, but 14 on 16 albums ranging on a scale from good to masterpiece (the period from Chronic Town unto Automatic for the People showing constant improvement IMO) is still a very impressive result. Something the boys could be very proud off.

the thing is though REM was a band that didnt need that platform, they could exist without the fanfare they did for most of their career. I dont think they should be defined as band that didnt have anything left in the tank. I think its much more noble to walk away while still producing good work regardless of chart success, than become someone chasing past fame and touring the world playing songs from 2-3 decades prior, i mean i always wonder how come no one points out those that just tour their hits for ages, like Prince, the Rolling Stones? I mean even though someone like Prince is still active with new music, the way he tours you'd think he hasnt had an album since 1989, as for the Stones they are a joke. REM and some other bands in that era still have the hunger but maybe they want to channel it in other ways, the idea of being a band recording touring (real tours too) is not easy, and they along with other bands like Duran Duran etc..play shows with brand new music.

I thinnk with all artists with careers we all will differ on best works, you point out UP and to me that was the bad one to me, Reveal i agree was ignored unfairly, though i thought Imitation of Life was NOT a good choice for a single. Around the Sun to me was pretty bold because it had some experimentation, and Collapse into Now, i think they knew it was over, this was a swan song, though they waited to call it quits, i think they knew it and planned it, just like a-ha did back in 2009-2010 when they recorded their best record "Foot Of the Mountain" and then one day said, we are breaking up next year affter a world tour.